[comp.sys.mac] Copy protection disabling

vogelei@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Todd Vogelei) (06/02/89)

I bought a program called vision from a company called opcode for music
sequencing, it is copy protected and I  usually stear clear of such 
things but this program is too good to not have and I know of no other 
tool for the job that fits my needs so well.  

It will allow you to install it onto a hard disk, you can uninstall it
to move it and must uninstall it before running HD tuneup, diskfit,
or attempting to restore a HD from a backup. The manual says failure to
do so will corrupt the program.  

The manual did not mention gatekeeper which I haven't heard from in so
long I forgot it was running.  Gatekeeper vetoed the installation
but the master disk thinks iot is installed!  I can't uninstall it because 
it never made it to begin with.  At the rate I have had problems with
my hard drive, I'm likely to lose one of these every month or so.
They only ship you one disk, a backup is shipped on registration.


Does anybody know of a way to disable the copy protection on this thing?
I'm gonna give opcode a bad time tomorrow but I really want to copy
the floppy a bunch of times so I can have an installable copy anytime
I mung the one I have online.   I suspect the thing will sommit suicide
if it thinks it is being fooled with so I need to be really careful.

Todd
vogelei@nmtsun

mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (06/04/89)

>I bought a program called vision from a company called opcode for music
>sequencing, it is copy protected and I  usually stear clear of such 
>things but this program is too good to not have and I know of no other 
>tool for the job that fits my needs so well.  

Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.

kaufman@polya.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) (06/05/89)

In article <46100307@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:

->I bought a program called vision from a company called opcode for music
->sequencing, it is copy protected and I  usually stear clear of such 
->things but this program is too good to not have and I know of no other 
->tool for the job that fits my needs so well.  

>Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.

Well, yes,... but if you REALLY want to crack the copy protection buy MacNosy
by Jasik Designs.  It's not cheap, but it's really good at helping you
disassemble code so you can figure out where to patch things.  There is also
a cute little FKEY that will write out all code resources it finds, presumably
after they have been loaded and unprotected.  Between the two of them, I'm
sure you (if you are a good hacker) can undo the copy protection.  It can take
a couple of days, especially if they tried to do silly things like patch the
segment loader to decrypt the code as it is loaded, or scramble the jump
table, or modify code on the fly (so that an inserted breakpoint screws up the
modification), or...

Given the existence of MacNosy, I don't know why companies even bother to try
to copy-protect programs.

Marc Kaufman (kaufman@polya.stanford.edu)

cbm@well.UUCP (Chris Muir) (06/06/89)

mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.

While this may be true for business software, nearly _ALL_
the professional music software is copy protected.

-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
Chris Muir                             |   "There is no language in our lungs
{hplabs,pacbell,ucbvax,apple}          |    to tell the world just how we feel" 
!well!cbm                              |                         - A. Partridge

ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (06/06/89)

Master Tracks Pro has a similar copy protection.  Copy II Mac is
unable to make backup floppies.  However, if you eject the disk with
a paper clip just before clicking "INSTALL" and write protect it,
the program doesn't notice!  So at least you don't lose an installation
when you forget about it and run HD Tuneup.

If I don't have a paper clip around, I just cover the write protect
hole with a piece of paper, insert the disk, and pull the paper
out at the correct time.

All that trouble, and they overlook the paper clip trick.  Amazing!

					Tim Smith

gordon@netcom.UUCP (Brian Gordon) (06/07/89)

In article <12009@well.UUCP> cbm@well.UUCP (Chris Muir) writes:
>mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>>Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.
>
>While this may be true for business software, nearly _ALL_
>the professional music software is copy protected.

Hmmmmm.  Good ole' DMCS is no longer copy protected.  Is that not 
"professional" or part of the "nearly"?

It does seem true that protected/non-protected runs in clumps -- if one
program of type X is protected, most others will be, too.  In general, I
don't buy them -- I paid for the $@#%! hard disk, and I intend to USE it.

hal@krishna.cs.cornell.edu (Hal Perkins) (06/07/89)

>>>Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.
>>
>>While this may be true for business software, nearly _ALL_
>>the professional music software is copy protected.
>
>Hmmmmm.  Good ole' DMCS is no longer copy protected.  Is that not 
>"professional" or part of the "nearly"?

Is Finale (sp?) protected?  One would hope that at $1000 a copy, you
wouldn't have to put up with such nonsense.  But then again, at $1000
a copy, the temptation to make a pirate copy is higher than normal, so
they might feel they have to do it.

Hal Perkins             hal@cs.cornell.edu
Cornell CS

vogelei@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Todd Vogelei) (06/07/89)

In article <1382@netcom.UUCP   gordon@netcom.UUCP (Brian Gordon) writes:
  In article <12009@well.UUCP   cbm@well.UUCP (Chris Muir) writes:
    mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
      Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers what they get.
    
    While this may be true for business software, nearly _ALL_
    the professional music software is copy protected.
  
  Hmmmmm.  Good ole' DMCS is no longer copy protected.  Is that not 
  "professional" or part of the "nearly"?
  
This toy is not even in the same *LEAGUE* as Vision or Performer and 
just don't do it for me.

Todd
vogelei@nmtsun

ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (06/07/89)

Since most or all of the MIDI sequencers and recorders for
the Mac are copy protected, how do we avoid them?

					Tim Smith

Greg@AppleLink.Apple.Com (Greggy) (06/07/89)

In article <46100307@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>> [ someone describes his trouble installing copy protected software on 
>>   his hard disk ]
> Anybody who buys copy protected software deservers[sic] what they get.

What they deserve is full support from the supplier of the software.

What they don't deserve is an unsympathetic snide remark.

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